Adrenaline's Downfall
by ASwordByAnyOtherName
Summary: After the pankration, Jason journeys back and starts to heal, with help from Hercules and Pythagoras. All characters belong to the BBC!
1. Chapter 1

As Jason leapt toward Heptarian, the knife in his hand naturally gravitated to Heptarian's throat. At this point, Jason couldn't think of Heptarian as a Lord, or the queen's nephew, or Ariadne's betrothed – he just knew him as the prick that tried to beat a defenseless man in the alleyway into submission. This anger had carried him this far into the fight, and his anger and adrenaline were too far into his bloodstream to hold back now.

But then those eyes – those blue, pleading eyes – the eyes of a man who knew he was about to die. Jason didn't really want to kill him, he literally couldn't afford it – couldn't afford to put the lives of his dear friends Hercules and Pythagoras on the line. No, Heptarian's sudden brush with humility was enough. Jason stood up, throwing down the knife in the sand. He went to find the only eyes he could find in this crowd – Ariadne's. He tried to catch his breath – oh gods, breathing with broken ribs really hurt. His shoulder, spine, and toes started tingling, getting their feeling back, as the adrenaline started to leave his body.

Suddenly, the crowd started booing – he knew Heptarian had gotten up; after all, Heptarian was Heptarian, and was not about to lose a pankration. Jason had one more trick up his sleeve – as soon as he felt the knife at his jawline, he was able to mutter, "Kill me, and they'll hate you forever". See, even as a peasant in this crowd, Jason knew a thing or two about the power of the public. They were there, booing, hissing, and applauding, and whatever they reacted to, the King and Queen would react to more.

Jason knew this, but Heptarian took a minute to realize it. Suddenly, he grabbed Jason's arm, causing him to wince in pain, but signifying victory of both parties to the crowd. Jason didn't hear the knife plunge into the sand, as he was too busy trying to stay upright and breathe. But he was able to hear the cheering of the crowd as they stood there, a moment becoming forever.

Hepatarian was out of breath too: "You're lucky Jason, but luck doesn't last forever" he managed to breathe out with the cheers of the crowd.

Jason heard and respected the threat – it just meant he had to be extra careful, especially around Ariadne – which his heart just couldn't take. Numbly, he went to make his way back to the arena gate and back home.


	2. Chapter 2

His plans to get to his bed as quickly as possible – gods, everything hurt, even his fingernails – were stalled by Pythagoras and Hercules, who were too busy clucking like mother hens or celebrating his win (political and physical) over Heptarian to realize how tired he was. Jason didn't really have to put in much effort, just an overzealous "mmhmm" every time they paused, and a quick smile here and there. Gods, he was so tired, his head felt like a bowling ball – not like anyone would know what a bowling ball was, though.

Jason finally gave in, his head sagging down to his chest. Pythagoras tried to be uplifting as he watched Hercules massage the muscles in Jason's broken hand: "You did the right thing" he stated, hoping to get a quick rise out of the young hero, who just looked so beaten, he could barely stand it.

Jason didn't even lift his head: "And what do I have to show for it?" he asked, the question obviously rhetorical. Hercules answered regardless: "True, we're still broke", putting a hole into Jason's theory that fighting in the pankration was only a good idea because it could bring them riches.

Pythagoras smiled gently. "Be grateful, you're still here. If you'd won, I very much doubt that would be the case." Jason was obviously confused: "Why? Why should it be?"

Pythagoras was confused at Jason's question. "Because those are the rules," he stated matter-of-factly.

Now it was Jason's turn to be confused: "But I thought you said there were no rules".

Suddenly, Pythagoras understood. "The rules of life, Jason, not the pankration". Jason was about to retort when a quiet "um huh" broke the air. Ariadne, in her brilliant blue dress, looking worried still, was instantaneously there. "I… I came to see how Jason is," she came to the end of the sentence awkwardly, looking at his friends more than he.

With her voice, Jason's head snapped up, fully and completely at attention. Hercules missed this visual cue, never looking up from Jason's left hand he was putting back in place. "His shoulder's on the mend, but I've still got a lot of work to do on his neck, and I'm a little worried about this left hand," he rumbled, only affording a quick glance at the Princess. It wasn't until he heard the usual hiss of "Hercules!" from Pythagoras, and looked at the puppy dog face of Jason, that he realized they should be leaving.

At this point, Hercules's mind had far from stopped working – he never could wrap his head around the awkwardness and attraction between Jason and Ariadne. After all, she was meant to be Queen someday!

With this, Hercules and Pythagoras started awkwardly walking toward the exit, both fully intending on spying on Jason and Ariadne when they were gone from sight. Hercules didn't want the Princess to know, so he tried to come up with a quick excuse of why they would suddenly leave their friend behind – besides the piercing gaze at their back. "We've just got to get, some, erm, bees" he squealed out as he and Pythagoras took leave.

Of course, always worried about their reputation, Pythagoras immediately questioned "Bees?! Why bees?". Hercules being too preoccupied with the idea of snooping on their friend hoped a quick "It was all I could think of!" would suffice. After all, he was never good at cover stories, neither under pressure.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Ariadne started walking toward him, Jason unconsciously straightened up, not even noticing his broken ribs screaming at him. He saw the worry and respect on Ariadne's face, and – was that suspicion? He wanted to squelch any thoughts that he had let Heptarian live because of his royal blood before they even started. "I saw you in the arena, and that's why I…" he didn't even have to finish the sentence, as Ariadne's face lightened up with more respect. "… I know" she finished for him. "Thank you."

Jason started with "Ariadne…" and she could tell exactly where this was headed. She needed to nip this in the bud, and quick, before Pasiphae did anything to such a wonderful, kind-hearted, innocent man. "Please don't" she cut him off from the inevitable wonderful soliloquy of how amazing she may be – though coming from Jason's lips, it never sounded as false and cunning as any of the other suitors.

Ariadne took a quick breath, and remembered why she came first came down to the arena room. "I came to give you this" she said in a measured tone, holding his necklace. Jason looked even more downtrodden. "I see" he slowly said, his eyes becoming more distant, and leaving hers in deference.

Ariadne pushed through. "I cannot keep it, as much as I long to, more than anything" she quickly said, her eyes finding Jason's again, apologetic and politically apathetic. With this glance, Jason understood it all.

Ariadne mustered her courage for one last question. "Why didn't you kill Heptarian when you had the chance?" She knew her orders, and as much as she would have liked to see this nuisance of a man gone, she also knew the fate Jason would have faced. It seems Jason knew as well, as he slowly answered, "It would have made things worse".

Ariadne was almost done, though she had one more thing for Jason: "Thank you". He slowly looked up, his gaze never leaving hers, yet still with eyes a little unfocused and glassy. "For what? I've done nothing, I've achieved nothing," he stated.

Ariadne allowed herself a quick smile. "You've given me strength." Jason looked confused as ever. "I don't understand". And with that, Ariadne swooped down, her lips landing on his. She allowed herself a few moments of eye contact, then swept out of the room, Jason looking dumbstruck after her.


	4. Chapter 4

Pythagoras and Hercules came back to Jason looking just as dumbstruck as when Ariadne had left him, his necklace clasped loosely in his hands.

"Jason…" Pythagoras gently gripped his friend's head, wishing him to look him in the eye. Jason just continued staring in the distance, only coming back to the present when Hercules clapped his bad shoulder in jest.

"What… What happened? Can we go home yet?" Jason immediately responded. Pythagoras sighed. His mortar and pestle were at home, as well as a plethora of fresh water from last night's pankration-fueled healing.

He nodded, and Jason immediately rose too fast, swaying on his feet. Hercules sprang into action, gathering Jason's left shoulder around his own, and grabbing his waist. Jason hissed in pain when Hercules touched his ribs, and Pythagoras immediately went to investigate the rapidly blackening skin along his right side.

It just took one glace between Pythagoras and Hercules – gods, they were so in tune with each other – to confirm that Jason's ribs were indeed broken, and the best thing was to get him home so they could wrap them.

"OK, Jason, we're going to go home right now, OK" Pythagoras encouraged from the sidelines. Jason quickly nodded, looking grim. Pythagoras knew the long walk home with broken ribs and gods knew what else would be difficult, and it seemed as though there were no alternatives. The trio quickly got under way, with Pythagoras taking lead, carrying Jason's shirt and a water skein, looking back often enough it looked like he had a bad tic.

Jason knew what Ariadne had done, what she had said, and that they were going home, but other than that, his brain had filtered out anything else that Pythagoras or Hercules could have said. Honestly, his brain was buzzing with the details of the kiss, and he felt weirdly giddy and like he was existing out of his body – both a feeling of dizziness and intoxication. He barely felt Hercules grip his good shoulder and start to move toward home, but yelped as soon as his bad shoulder started to react to the alternating force of movement.

Hercules gruffly demonstrated how to hold his bad arm with his good arm, and soon the trio were on their slow way. Pythagoras kept looking back, while Hercules focused on putting one foot in front of another, no matter how much Jason hung onto him. As the distance grew, Jason's weight seemed to grow along with it, the adrenaline rushing out of his body and leaving him to be only slightly responsive at best.


	5. Chapter 5

At the beginning, Jason was unnaturally chatty: bringing up the topic of royalty, which Hercules avoided in the case of any curious passersby; then of things such as music or socks, topics of which Hercules had never heard of. Chalking itself up to the young boy's fever, he just murmured when seemed appropriate, but otherwise focused on getting everyone home as soon as possible.

By the time they had reached home, Jason was noticeably flagging off of Hercules, seemingly unconscious of his environment. While his feet had tried to move in the direction that Hercules had forced them, everything else about the boy had just stopped – his incoherent mumblings, his eyes had long since closed, and his head was lolling about. Hercules had deposited him in his bed, noticing the relieved look that passed Jason's face when he was able to reach his bed and fall into unconsciousness. Pythagoras tried to sponge off his face and extremities; until Jason was conscious would he know what was actually wrong with the young lad. Sure, he could guess something with his shoulder, neck, left hand, and ribs, based off of their preliminary diagnosis, but he wasn't sure if Jason was getting all of the breath he needed, since he seemed to be wheezing quite quickly as soon as they got home.

Pythagoras hunted for linens to wrap Jason's ribs while he whimpered unconsciously. Just by studying his flushed face, Pythagoras could tell Jason was running a low-grade fever throughout the night, and Pythagoras tried to keep him as cool as possible with a few poultices from the night before, and by sponging off the sweat on his face. At this point, Jason seemed to be completely delirious, mumbling about kissing Ariadne, about his honor, and about something called a tumbler, with cats.

Pythagoras took the first watch while Hercules went out, celebrating both Jason's win and Medusa's forgiveness. Throughout the night, Jason seemed to only get worse, his fever climbing and deliriousness coming at full speed. Pythagoras felt utterly helpless; he tried a poultice of chamomile, yarrow, elderflower, and lemon balm herbs that would help Jason sweat out most of the fever, but there was no magic answer for such a fever. He assumed Jason's body was revolting against the strain of the past few days, which included not eating much, since Jason was always nervous for the next day's fight.


	6. Chapter 6

It was two whole days before Jason finally awoke. As soon as he opened his eyes, he immediately regretted it, since there was so much sunlight coming through. He could tell he was on his bed, the scratchy surface oddly comforting. By turning his head, he could see Pythagoras at the table, but with slits for eyes, he couldn't see what was wrong with the man – he seemed to be slumped over his porridge.

Jason motioned to get up from his cozy nest of a bed and check on Pythagoras – something was wrong, he could tell. When he made the motion to get up, stars swam in front of his eyes, and he yelped from the sudden pain in his shoulder, along his right side, and his neck. It felt like everything was in a vice, and he was absolutely powerless to stop it. He panted, trying to ride out the waves of pain, blinking furiously to rid his vision of the black spots that threatened to take it.

Suddenly, Pythagoras was there, soothing words and finding a cool cloth for his head. Jason turned his head – the only thing he could do without hurting himself further, and wanted to say "What happened?", but all that came out was a low groan.

Pythagoras smoothed the cloth over his forehead and smiled. "Welcome back, Jason, we weren't sure if you would ever return." Jason's eyebrows disappeared under his mop of brown curly hair as his groan turned into a question mark. "You've been asleep and unconscious for two days now, and you've only started to heal from the pankration", Pythagoras mentioned softly, noticing how sensitive his friend was to sound. He pulled out a small vial from the bedside floor. "I need you to drink all of this for me, OK" he soothed his friend. Though Jason didn't know it at the time, Pythagoras had created a healing balm laced with a strong sedative.

Pythagoras helped Jason drink the tonic, and watched as the young man's eyes fluttered, losing battle with sleep. "Rest, Jason" he soothed, wringing out the cloth and placing it on the warm forehead for the umpteenth time. "Just rest."


	7. Chapter 7

When Jason awoke for the second time, it was evening, and the sun wasn't as oppressive against his eyelids. This time, it was Hercules by his head, ensuring the cool cloth with water was administered to keep the fever down. Jason blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings – his head, shoulder, and neck were al sore, but why? Oh yes, the pankration. Suddenly, everything came marching back – his previously separated shoulder, fighting Heptarian, having a knife at his throat, and through it all – Ariadne.

Hercules noticed the hazel eyes starting to grow wider as Jason's senses returned to him. The boy seemed lucid, at least for now. "Shh, take this," he brought the vial of the healing balm to Jason's lips again before the boy could try any other movement. He had seen this sort of exhaustion in the wrestling ring years ago, where it took a few days just to get over and heal from a fight. Jason had been fighting still, completing a cycle of writhing in his blankets, then suddenly pitching them off, and shivering from the cold again.

Jason lolled his head after taking the potion, taking in Hercules at his bedside. He scrunched up his face in confusion. "Wha.. why… why're you here" he finally panted out, looking as though the uttering those three words had spent all of his energy.

Hercules smiled gently – no matter what, Jason mustn't see the fear in his eyes or in Pythagoras, the fear that he would have never come to his senses. Lesser men had been known to lose their bearings in the pankration, and he never wanted to see that happen to Jason. "You've had a fever" he stated, answering Jason's question. "The pankration's over, so now it's time to rest".

The hazel eyes accepted this response, closing and resting as commanded. Hercules felt his forehead – it could just be him, but it felt as though the fever had finally broken. Pythagoras would be elated; it was only after Hercules commanded him did he finally fall into his bed after almost two full days of no sleep. It got to a point where he looked worse off than Jason; deep purple circles under his eyes, and his head falling in sudden sleep cycles by Jason's bedside.

It was Pythagoras who woke up next, blanket around his middle, as he came at midnight to relieve a snoozing Hercules. At this point, it looked like Jason was resting comfortably, which was something to say after the past few days. Just to be sure, Pythagoras took watch over his friend, taking in the slow, deep breaths that hadn't been there the last few days.


	8. Chapter 8

The new day woke Pythagoras up with its gentle sunrise; by his head, Jason slumbered on peacefully. He could hear Hercules snoring in the next room, and the house seemed calm. This was Pythagoras's favorite time of day, the morning, with its bright sun and new opportunities.

Jason shifted in his sleep, bringing Pythagoras back down to earth. His shoulder just needed rest, as did his head injuries and his ribs. The healing tonic they had been getting him to drink should have everything on the mend, and now it was simply up to time. Pythagoras had felt bad; he hadn't even realized how many times Jason had been hit in the pankration until he felt the different lumps on his head.

Pythagoras went to make breakfast. He was sick of porridge, but it was all they had money for, so he had gotten some honey as a sweetener to make it less brick-like. He was halfway through his bowl before he noticed a pair of hazel eyes watching him, finally awake and lucid, and not as pain-filled as the past few days.

Pythagoras jumped up and went to Jason, a soft smile on his lips. "How're you feeling?" he queried, trying to take in Jason's condition before he answered. Jason sighed. "Like I was run over by a cart. What did I miss?" He knew he was missing a few days – after the pankration, everything just seemed to be a big, pain-filled blur.

Pythagoras didn't want to overload Jason, but he knew there was good news to tell. "Ariadne and Heptarian's engagement was called off". At this news, Jason immediately straightened. "And you've been running a fever, and have had quite a time healing from the pankration." Jason looked slightly guilty at this, not wanting to cause concern for his friends. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Pythagoras made Jason some porridge, and they were still gossiping when Hercules woke up, demanding to be fed. It would still take Jason a few days to heal, but he was back. Pythagoras smiled. That's all he needed.


End file.
